


The roommate

by CaelumBlack



Category: The 100
Genre: Art, F/F, Hunter - Freeform, New York, Romance, Roommate, Writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 06:43:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3600159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaelumBlack/pseuds/CaelumBlack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke moves to New York and is about to start her first year at Hunter, she's found an appartment, two amazing roommates (Raven and Octavia) and a third (Lexa) she hasn't yet had the pleasure to meet. The first time they meet is rather uncomfortable, in the common bathroom while Clarke is in the shower and neither really has a clue as to how to go about living together after that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. CLARKE

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), please let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love, you can follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I also have tumblr, caelumblack.tumblr.com , you can follow my blog there, I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

Always late, why did I always have to be late. My thumbs strummed the wheel in the rhythm of the song that was playing on the radio and I focused my attention to the lyrics, hoping it would get my mind off my being late. It didn’t work, my eyes kept straying to the digital clock on my dashboard. Half an hour wasn’t so bad, I’d arrived later than that on numerous accounts, still, not on a day like this and besides, I still had to drive at least fifteen minutes, or so my GPS told me. Arrival time 7:46 pm. Not that it would really matter if I was late, what would I miss, dinner? My new roommates surely would be all right with me being a little bit late wouldn’t they? I shrugged, as long as I would be on time Monday.

When I thought about Monday, I realized I was nervous, University life would officially start on Monday, surprisingly I realized that despite my nerves, I was really looking forward to starting, moving to New York was a new beginning and I could be whomever I wanted to be. I was looking forward to meeting new people, hanging out with my new roommates, my teachers and classmates, even doing homework. Though I knew that University life could be really wild, especially in New York, I didn’t plan on partying too much, taking on a double major was already going to be a big enough challenge as it was, still I did not regret it, not for one second.

When people from Hunter University had come to my high school to recruit me, I had never thought they would actually offer me a full scholarship, one to cover both majors, but they had and that had been exceptional, the spokesperson of the University had said so, but so had my teachers and my dad. My dad, who was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and had some experience with scholarships, he told me we had been lucky and that I indeed had to be an extremely promising and talented student for the University to do that. I had tried to ignore the fact him saying I ‘indeed had to be extremely promising and talented’ because I knew for a fact that I was exactly that. My future looked brighter than it ever had and no matter what my dad thought of my ‘little hobby’. I knew for a fact that I would become one of the greatest writers-slash-artists in the world.

And those were my majors, English-Creative-Writing and Art. Since I hadn’t been able to pick either one of them, I’d applied to both and had written a motivation letter of exactly one sentence: ‘Once you’ve seen some of my work, you will see why there’s no possible way for me to choose between my two biggest passions’. Apparently, I had been right, a teacher at Hunter called one of my teachers who invited her to our next art fair. She didn’t come alone, she came with one of her colleagues who, like her, had been intrigued by my work. A week later they asked me to apply with a full scholarship.  
I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my entire life than in that exact moment, finally there was acknowledgement from someone other than my friends and my art teacher, these were two people who were experts on writing and art and they both wanted to have me on their ‘team’.

Shortly after applying I’d gone on an apartment hunt and had accidently found an apartment that was just perfect, it was an old building with brick walls, outside and inside, it had a large living room-slash-kitchen, four bedrooms, a bathroom, which I would have to share with three others so that would take some getting used to since I was used to living with my dad only after he and my mom separated a couple of years back. One of the best things about the apartment was the large terrace on the roof. During the summer I’d been to the apartment a couple of times to move my stuff so I wouldn’t have to do it all last minute and I’d found myself drawn to that roof and every single time I’d been there I’d sat at that roof, enjoying the view over one of the most beautiful cities in the entire world. It had been perfect.

The apartment belonged to the father of one of my roommates, Octavia, whom I’d met by chance while apartment hunting, I’d been walking around New York, checking out these shitty apartments and found myself being desperately lost while looking for my seventh house-viewing, when Octavia had come up to me, asking me whether I was looking for something. I’d told her I was looking for an apartment and that I was apartment hunting. She’d taken a good look at me, shaken her head and linked her arm through mine, guiding me away with the words “you don’t belong in this neighbourhood beautiful, come on, I am still in need of a new roommate and by the looks of you, and yes, I’m a very good judge of character, you’re going to fit right in”.

She’d been right, after showing me the apartment, my new bedroom and the rest of the apartment, I already felt like I was home and I didn’t want to leave ever again. She’d introduced me to one of her other roommates, Raven, it was apparently an all-girl household, and we just started talking and didn’t stop until it was midnight, which was when I needed to get back to my hotel. Octavia made me sign the lease the next morning over breakfast and I got to spend the rest of the weekend in New York and got properly introduced to the dynamic city by my two new roommates.  
Apparently there was a third roommate called Lexa but I’d never met her because she’d been traveling through Asia, ‘doing everything god forbade her’ the entire summer. Lexa, whoever she was, apparently was a badass kind of girl, traveling by herself through Asia for two months, partying, probably doing all kinds of crazy stuff. Both Raven and Octavia had described her as ‘tough to love but definitely worth loving’ because apparently she was the owner of a NOT-so-called bubbly and sparkly personality but still she was a good friend and person. I hadn’t given it much thought because I had always been pretty good with people, we’d most likely get used to each other eventually if we didn’t hit it off immediately. We would have to since we were going to be living together. 

After a two and a half hour drive I finally arrived at my new apartment, I hit the button on the little device Octavia had given me, and in front of me the garage door opened automatically and after driving in I parked my car. Apparently not one of my roommates owned a car, so I could park in spot 5b, which was our apartment number. A tingling sensation suddenly worked its way through my entire body, I was excited, extremely excited. To be living in New York, to have these amazing new roommates who were already becoming my friends, going to school and become better at writing and painting. These were, without a doubt, going to be the best years of my life, I could feel it in every cell of my being.

Once I had parked my car I got out my last two bags and slung them over my shoulder. After carefully locking my car I made my way up the stairs, all ten of them and arrived at my new apartment only slightly flustered and with ragged breathing, wishing the building had an elevator but knowing very well that the building was too old for one. While trying to get my breathing under control, I got my keys from my pocket and opened the door, relishing in the fact that this was my new house for at least the next couple of years.

When I opened the door my new roommates looked up, Octavia was the first to jump up from her bar stool and smiled like a Cheshire cat “oh my god, you’re here, finally, we were getting worried” she said as she made her way over and took one of my bags off my shoulder.

"Thanks" I murmured and dropped the other one on the floor.

"Did everything go all right" Raven asked, also making her way over with two bottles of beer in her hands. Handing me one after giving me a hug.

"Yeah, my dad was getting kind of emotional when I left, couldn’t stop hugging me".

Octavia chuckled “I remember when I left for college, my mom seriously lay down in front of my car in protest”.

I laughed “no way”.

"Way".

That made me laugh all the more and the others joined in. Then Octavia opened her arms to pull me in for a hug “welcome to your new home Clarke, for real this time. God, it’s good you’re finally here, it feels like ages since we’ve seen each other doesn’t it”.

"It kind of does" I replied truthfully, which was odd because it had only been a couple of weeks since we’d last seen each other and we’d spoken practically every day since we’d met, even when we’d been on holiday, me to Canada, her to some fancy resort in the Keys, Raven to Europe.

"Come, let’s sit, we’ll help with your stuff later" Raven said.

"It’s all right, it’s not that much" I smiled and we all made our way over to the kitchen where Octavia gestured for me to sit down and drink my beer while she and Raven continued preparing dinner. For a while we just talked about our holidays, then we talked about the upcoming semester and eventually about the fourth roommate, who was apparently still traveling in Asia and they had no idea when she’d come back. They had been in touch only sporadically because Lexa mostly travelled through places without cell reception, there had only been a couple of texts here and there, proving she was still alive, along with two post cards, one sent from Thailand and one from Beijing.  
We had dinner, we had entirely too much to drink and both my roommates and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. It was the first night of a new beginning, a new chapter of my life and it felt amazing, I had never been that happy in by entire life, I felt right at home, like I finally truly belonged and couldn’t wait for the rest to fall into place as well.  
 


	2. LEXA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), please let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love, you can follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I also have tumblr, caelumblack.tumblr.com , you can follow my blog there, I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

The subway ride had taken me considerably longer than I had first expected, first there had been the subway that just hadn’t showed, then the one that had showed but had stood still inside a dark tunnel for at least fifteen minutes before continuing at like five miles per hour. Monday mornings officially sucked, but didn’t most mornings suck anyway. With a frustrated sigh I pushed my way through the crowd and I was pretty sure I left some bruises on the people I pushed out of my way with my elbows. Why had I waited so long to come back, I should have come back one day earlier, then at least I would have been able to get some laundry done at home, I would have been able to talk to my roommates whom I hadn’t seen in two months. Had it really been that long? Two whole months I’d been gone, traveling through Asia by myself and it had been amazing. No, I did not regret returning home this late, every single minute of my summer holiday had been worth it. It truly had been the experience of a lifetime.

It was a little after eight a.m. when I climbed the stairs to my apartment, my backpack still slung casually over my right shoulder, surprisingly, it was lighter than when I had left. I got my keys from the pocket of my leather jacket and opened the front door, hoping my roommates would still be home and not already on their way to school.

"Guys" I said in a not too loud voice, just in case they were still sleeping. There was no reply, which to my surprise kind of made me feel disappointed. Not that I could blame them but still. I dropped my backpack to the ground and made my way over to my room, which looked exactly the way I had left it two months ago. It was when I reached my room that I heard the shower running. So there was someone home, I wondered who it was, Raven, Octavia, Harper?

I made my way over to the bathroom and entered quietly, having already decided how to surprise my roomy, whomever it was. We’d all seen each other naked so often that it wouldn’t even matter that I surprised them in the shower, unless it was one of Raven’s conquests, then it would be a little awkward, not that it would make any sense for someone being here on a Monday, on the first day of the new semester, no, one of my roomies would be in there, no doubt about it. I casually leaned against the frame of the shower stall while rapidly pushing away the shower curtain.

"What the fuck" yelled the girl in the shower who definitely was not one of my roommates.

I found myself frozen in place, staring at the girl who was looking back at me with big eyes while trying to cover herself with her arms, she was doing a poor job in hiding, well very much, I could see enough to be able to say that this girl was the proud owner of a killer body, slim and lithe, slightly muscled, yet curvy in all the right places. To my surprise I felt myself smiling, which made the girl look at me with the oddest expression that I couldn’t decipher, her face was thin, her wet hair a shade of dark-blonde, her cheekbones high and jaw line sharp, her nose wasn’t big and fit perfectly with her full lips and incredibly beautiful piercing eyes of which I couldn’t really see what colour they were because it was kind of dark in the bathroom. Unconsciously I found myself biting my lip, my entire body suddenly feeling like it was on fire.

To my surprise the girl actually moved her hands away and stood up straighter, making me see everything there was to see. I had to contain myself in order to let a deep groan escape from my throat.

"Like what you see" she asked in an all too innocent, velvety voice. She added a wink, seemingly for extra effect. Nearly giving me a heart attack in the process.

I gulped in some much needed air and could only bring out “Oh my god” before turning on the balls of my feet and stalking out of the bathroom, all the while muttering “oh my god” under my breath. When I passed Raven’s room on my way to Octavia’s I realized she wasn’t there and that the bed was made, which meant she was already out and Raven never let any girl stay at the apartment when she was gone. A thought occurred to me, had Octavia turned gay over the summer? No, that made no sense, she didn’t even want to kiss girls, had Harper? No, that made even less sense, she’d been with Monty for five years, surely she wouldn’t just break up with him and start dating girls. My final option was that Raven had finally gotten herself a girlfriend but that just made me laugh out loud, Raven never really dated anyone, if there was anyone in the world, besides me that was, who was afraid of relationships, it was Raven.

I noticed I was still repeating the words “oh my god” when I threw open Octavia’s bedroom door and found her still sleeping in her bed. Not caring one tiny bit that she was still half in a coma and lying on her back with her mouth open, snoring softly. So I jumped on the bed next to her, hoping the bouncing of my landing would wake her up “Octavia, wake up, we need to talk”.

She murmured something but didn’t really wake up so I started pushing her shoulder “wake up Octavia, you have to tell me why there’s a girl in the shower”.

She finally stirred and her eyes fluttered open and closed a couple of times “what are you talking about” she asked in a slurring voice.

“Wake up, there’s a girl in our shower and I can’t figure out why she is here”.

Octavia remained quiet and I growled a little in frustration, pushing her shoulder once more “wake up woman, this is important”.

Her eyes opened again and she stretched under the light cover before finally sitting upright and looking at me before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Suddenly her eyes grew big, her mouth fell open “you’re back, oh my god, you’re back, Lexa, when did you get home” she said and threw her arms around my shoulders, pulling me into a tight hug.

“I got back like five seconds ago”.

“How was it, how was your trip, oh my god, I’ve missed you so much”.

“It was good” I simply said before continuing to more pressing matters “now who is that girl in the shower”.

“Clarke you mean”.

“I don’t know her name, just saw her naked”.

“You saw her naked, how did that happen” Octavia asked, her eyebrows bunched up into a tight and slightly suspicious frown.

“God, it was so embarrassing, I thought I’d surprise you or one of the others in the shower so I went in and ripped open the shower curtain but the person in the shower wasn’t any of you, so this girl was like staring at me, covering herself up, well sort of, and then I just stared at her and my entire body went crazy you know, I got so warm and then I bit my lip and..”.

“Wait what, you bit your lip, as in, you got turned on”.

Octavia stared at me with big hazel eyes that contained shock and I leaned back a little, in shock as well “yeah, I guess so”.

“Oh my god, our new roommate turned you on”.

“Our new what, you’re joking right”.

“I’m not actually”.

“God, I’m screwed”.

Octavia laughed and gently punched my arm “this is hilarious”.

I shook my head “it is absolutely not hilarious, how in the world am I ever going to face that girl, I stared at her, like hard and she saw that I got turned on and asked me whether I liked what I was seeing”.

Octavia burst into laughter at hearing that “she actually said that” she hiccupped through her fits of laughter that just kept on coming wave after wave.

“Yeah”.

“I knew I was going to love her from the moment we first met, that girl is awesome”.

“Who is she, who left and why”.

“Harper left, she and the boyfriend shacked up, apparently they got an offer they couldn’t refuse, they live over at Brooklyn now, their apartment is amazing”.

“When did all of this happen”.

“Don’t you ever read your email, seriously, for a writer, you hate reading”.

“Terrible reception and besides, I really didn’t want to think about New York for a while so I just avoided internet cafés, I guess I’ll have to go through a shitload of email today”.

“So, anyway, Harper announced it like two weeks after you left and I was totally bummed out about it so after I heard the news I went into the city and walked around for a while when suddenly I ran into this girl, Clarke, who looked to be super lost, so I asked her what she was looking for and she told me she was looking for a specific address because she was apartment hunting and I don’t know, she looked awesome and totally out of place, we were in Brooklyn”.

“How the hell did you end up in Brooklyn anyway”.

“Don’t know, needed to clear my head, so anyway, I think fate lead me to Brooklyn that day because we started talking and I told her I needed a new roommate and well, she walked in here and looked like she belonged here, I don’t know, it was weird, she and Raven immediately hit it off as well without Raven going all Supernova on her so that was one plus one plus one plus another one equals I don’t know, her belonging here or something. She signed the lease the next morning”.

That was quite the story and it had left my stomach going up and down inside my body.

“So where is she going”.

“Hunter, like you”.

“This is just too much to come home to, I already feel like going back to Thailand and lying my super tan ass down on a beach somewhere sipping a mojito”.

“You’ll like her, I know she will charm your broody ass before the week is over”.  
The thing was, I wasn’t sure she hadn’t already.


	3. CLARKE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), please let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love, you can follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I also have tumblr, caelumblack.tumblr.com , you can follow my blog there, I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

And of course I was late again. As I hurried my ass down into the subway station my black, long, knee-length, Light before Dark blazer whipped up and down after me. I looked down the length of me, black skinny jeans, a pair of black Clarks, a simple black t-shirt under a chequered button up shirt of which I had the sleeves rolled up to my biceps.

My subway arrived just as I made it down to the platform and I rushed over to the first door that closed the moment I walked in. It was pretty crowded but not as crowded as I had expected it to be, still I couldn’t sit down so I just stood, leaning against one of the poles in the middle, casually getting my phone from my pocket and checking for messages. There was only one from my dad, wishing me good luck on my first day. It made me smile and I realized I would miss him, hoping he would be all right on his own, hoping he would actually cook for himself when I wasn’t around to do it but figured he’d be spending a lot of evenings eating in the University dining hall. I texted him back quickly, wishing him luck as well since he’d officially start again today as well.

The ride to school was short, only a couple of minutes and as I got off I checked my phone again, nine-o-four. Yes, I was most definitely late for introductions. The walk from the subway station to school wasn’t that long, only about five minutes or so but when I arrived at the campus I still needed some time to find which way the Art department was and where room one-o-twenty was.  
Finally after several minutes I found the room and saw that the door was already closed, which wasn’t strange, considering the fact that it was now fifteen minutes past nine. While biting my lip in frustration at being late on my first day, for introductions for god’s sake, I knocked and waited for a second or two before entering the classroom.

The first thing I noticed was that it was dead quiet and that at least twenty pairs of eyes stared in my direction. All their expressions, except for one, sported the same look, the how dare you look, the teacher, in fact, was the only one who appeared to be amused. Suddenly, the entire class broke into whisper but the teacher, a thirty-something man with a hippy look, didn’t seem fazed in the least. He smiled at me and gestured for me to come in.

“Sorry I’m late”.

“And what is the reason for you tardy appearance” the man said in a melodious voice, it sounded more like he was singing than speaking. This class was going to be interesting.

“I could make up a ton of excuses but I guess the only excuse I can make is that I am always kind of late, it’s the story of my life”.

“Well, miss ..” he said, waiting for me answer his unspoken question.

“Oh, I’m Clarke, Clarke Griffin”.

“Well, miss Griffin, you seem to have already made quite the impression on your classmates, do come in and find yourself a seat”.

I lowered my head as the whispers continued, along with their stares and closed the door behind me, walking quickly to the nearest available seat.

“Oh and miss Griffin” the teacher added in his melodious voice, making me look back to the front of the classroom.

“Yeah”.

“Please do try to break that habit of being late, most of your new teachers do not appreciate late-comers”.

“Sure, sure” I murmured and sat down.

The rest of my first class passed in a blur and it was amazing. The teacher, Abraham Johnson, or Abe as we were allowed to call him, explained the rules of the school, the expectations of our teachers, I got to know my classmates a little better and they got to know me a little better. Abe was to be our mentor during at least the first year and he told us that from the twenty people that were in this classroom, there would only be about five of us left by the end of the year, only the best of the best would be allowed to continue to the second year. Call me arrogant but I knew I was going to be one of those five. I was going to work my ass off to make sure I’d be one of the twenty-five percent.  
After the general introductions we got a tour of the school and visited the many workspaces , some were only used for classes, others were used for students to work on projects themselves. We were guided to the library, the dining hall, our teacher’s offices in case we needed them, Abe even showed us the best place to have coffee and doughnuts.

Around noon we were left to go home and prepare for our first classes the next day. I didn’t have the luxury to go home since I had the introduction of my second major that day, my writing major. It would start at one p.m. and I took the hour in between introductions to get myself some coffee along with a sandwich and afterwards, while I was having my first smoke of the day, I checked my phone and saw it was already one-o-five. Of course I had to be late twice during my first day. That was totally something only I could accomplish. While I threw away my cigarette butt I hurried back to school and found my way to the writing department, which was located on the fourth floor. Room four-eighteen was at the end of a huge corridor and exactly fifteen minutes late again I found myself knocking on the door, hoping this teacher would be half as decent as Abe. 

Turned out she wasn’t, not even a quarter.  
 


	4. CLARKE

“You came in late twice on introduction day, that has to be some sort of record, how did your teachers react” Raven asked, her eyes big in surprise. 

“Well, Abe, my art teacher seemed amused, Dr. Tsing started a lecture on why it wasn’t proper to be late during introductions”.

“So you made quite the impression today, not only on your classmates, or so I’ve heard” Raven grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

For a moment I raised an eyebrow but then I caught on “ah, my encounter in the shower with roommate number three”. 

Raven laughed aloud, slamming her fist on the kitchen counter as she literally shook with laughter “when Octavia told me, seriously, I laughed for like half an hour”. 

“It was ridiculously embarrassing, she just stared at me for like a minute, looking me up and down and I just stood there, super naked with my hair all wet, looking like a drowned cat”.

“That’s what you’re worried about, the way you looked”.

I shrugged “well, first impressions are important”. 

“I’m sure you made a great first impression” Raven began, again wiggling her eyebrows “I have seen you in your underwear after all”. 

That made me slap her upper arm “seriously, that’s what you’re going with here”. 

Raven again burst into laughter, making me shake my head at her “you’re a terrible person Raven, I hate you for it”.

“Nah, you love me and you know it”.

“Already, after knowing you for what, a month and a half, well that escalated quickly”. 

“I have that effect on people, can’t help it. So, after the lecture, how was your writing introduction”.

Glad that awkward topic was behind us I gave her a detailed description of my afternoon. Most of the introduction had been the same, general rules, expectations, getting to know my classmates, a school tour. It was nice though, my classmates, though competitive like my art classmates, were nice and Dr. Tsing loosened up a bit, telling us stories of successful writers who’d studied at Hunter as well. At four we were given our schedules and told to go home and prepare for the next day. 

My days were going to be busy, I would have art classes alternated with writing classes and I knew I was going to have to make a shitload of homework but I’d make it work somehow. I was motivated enough to make it work. 

I didn’t see Lexa again until later that evening, both Raven and Octavia had gone off to their rooms and I was sitting at the dinner table, working on an introduction assignment Dr. Tsing had given us, a short story in which we were to star as the main character. It had to be fiction but the story had to contain several elements that were non-fictional. I’d chosen to write a short story about a girl going into an arcade for the first time and wrote about the wonders of seeing pinball machines and vintage games like Donkey Kong for the first time. I’d been about eight back then and my friend Lincoln had decided to take me along because he wanted me to become a big fat dork like him. Though most boys that age, he had been three years older than me, wouldn’t particularly enjoy taking their little girl-neighbors to the arcade, but he had loved to introduce me to the wondrous world of vintage gaming. It was one of my most precious memories of my best friend. 

Just when I was closing my laptop to get to bed the front door opened and Lexa came in. Her eyes immediately found me and for a long moment she stared, her facial expression austere and perhaps a little detached, like she wasn’t really there. Her expression was a little like it had been this morning when she had found me and not Octavia or Raven in the shower. Somehow I felt glad I was still wearing my outfit from today and not the sweatpants and t-shirt I usually preferred while working on my school assignments. My eyes followed Lexa as she made her way into the kitchen and I watched her as she opened the fridge and got out a can of diet coke. She turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter while opening the can and taking a sip. 

“Hi” I said after a long moment of silence. During which she continued to stare at me with a look that bordered close to annoyance. 

“Hi”.

“So, you’re Lexa, I’m Clarke”. 

“So I’ve heard” she said thoughtfully. 

“I’m sorry about this morning, I..” I began but was rudely interrupted by Lexa “so, I’m going to bed, good night”.

I stared after her as she made her way into her bedroom without another word, without another glance. The closed the door with a loud blow and I just sat there, staring at the door of her bedroom. 

What the hell just happened?


	5. LEXA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), please let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love, you can follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I also have tumblr, caelumblack.tumblr.com , you can follow my blog there, I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

Once in my bedroom, I plopped down on my bed and just sat for a while, staring at the door. What the hell. My heart was beating twice as fast as usual and it took a couple of minutes before it finally slowed down. Only then was able to get up and turn on some music. When the familiar rhythmic beat of MGMT made its way into every corner of my room, I sat back down on my bed and raked my hands through my long, brown hair. This was not okay, was all I could think, why in the world couldn’t I act in a normal fashion around her? Sure, I was not great with people in general, my roommates didn’t call me broody Lexa for nothing but usually I was able to at least have a normal conversation with people. Perhaps it was because we’d met in such a weird way, me seeing her naked in the shower. Just thinking back to that moment made my heart sink and quicken at the same time.

How in the world was this happening now, sure Clarke was pretty, well, pretty beautiful but still, that had never been reason for my body to behave in such a fashion. Girls didn’t make that big of impression on me these days, not since, well, not since her. Not since I had started putting up walls around my heart and detaching myself from anything that could lead to romantic interests. It just wasn’t worth the heartbreak. Still, this was my roommate and we were going to live together for at least the next year, perhaps I should just go over and apologize. 

An eternal battle began in which a lively dialogue began in my head though I guess it was more of an eternal fistfight than a conversation. I sighed and pushed myself up and off the bed, moving toward the door that led straight into the living room. For a long moment I stood there, my hand on the doorknob, wondering whether I really should go in there and apologize, what should I say though, she would probably be mad at me for acting like a bitch earlier and like a horny teenager this morning and I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t particularly have enjoyed anyone barging in on me while showering and them pulling away the shower curtain, only to find a complete stranger staring at me. 

Still, I owed her an apology or at least something that resembled a nice conversation. With a low growl making its way out of my throat I opened the door and peered into the living room, everything was dark and it was quite obvious that no one was there anymore. My apology or a somewhat normal conversation would have to wait, perhaps tomorrow. 

I decided to get my laptop out and get some of my work done, there were classes to prepare for, assignments to do. So I sat down behind my desk, hoping that my assignments and class preparations would take my mind off my new roommate. 

For about thirty minutes I scrolled through several of the readers that had been put online somewhere during the summer holidays so my classmates and me could prepare for some of the classes. There was a class that would solely focus on literature, again, there was History of the English Language and several writing classes, fiction, non-fiction, poetry. I looked at the curriculum and read through the introductory pages of the readers. I even found myself starting on the first two chapters of the book that would be the base for the History of the English Language class. In a way, I basically did anything I could until my eyes grew tired along with my brain and I fell asleep in my clothes, my History book on my chest. 

When I woke up somewhere during the night I felt the cold of the room seeping through my clothes and into my body. Shivers worked their way through my body as I threw my book onto the ground and worked to take off my clothes before pulling the covers over me and curling up into a ball as I tried to warm myself. It took a while but finally, after moving around quite a bit, I stopped shivering and shaking. My thoughts began to wander to memories of my dream, Clarke, I had dreamed of her. Though I couldn’t exactly remember what I had dreamed of I could remember that she had played a role in that dream and it had been pleasant, there were no remnants that haunted me like when I had a nightmare. The only thing I felt was a warm fuzziness inside my chest, a fluttering that was unfamiliar to me. It was a good feeling though so I let it be there instead of fighting it. 

I fell asleep again with a smile on my face and with fantasies of a certain blonde roaming the streets of New York city by my side. 

During the next few days my life quickly fell into a routine that was, well, rather unusual for me. Where last year I couldn’t wait to get home after class and hang out with my roommates or make assignments on the roof while the weather was still good, this year I found myself avoiding going home because I found myself unable to face Clarke. Ever since the evening where I wanted to apologize I’d been having dreams of her, very vivid dreams that included showers and kissing and undressing. Every single morning I woke up with remnants of those dreams haunting me from the moment I opened my eyes until the moment my mind drifted off into a world of swirling images of blonde hair and blue eyes and handholding and touching. It was exhausting.

So since my days and nights were filled with fantasies of her, I found myself unable to go home and face the real Clarke. Which was why I spent most of my afternoons and evenings sipping coffee in cafes or at the library. I had dinner with classmates or by myself and when I was finished with my assignments I found myself reading the books that were on the reading list for this year. It wasn’t unusual for me, to be ahead with my assignments and preparations but I had never been this far ahead, I had even finished preparing all the classes I would TA this semester. 

Still, I knew I couldn’t avoid going home forever, I’d been receiving worried texts from both Raven and Octavia and that didn’t sit right with me. It was my home too after all and why would I let a girl keep me from going home and hanging out with my friends. For the umpteenth time the thought occurred to me that I should just apologize for the longer I waited the more uncomfortable it would become, just like it would be harder with each passing day. 

Before the weekend started I would get up to Clarke, apologize for my behavior and talk with her, no matter how many dreams I’d been having about her, no matter how horribly ashamed it would make me feel. It would be the proper thing to do.


	6. CLARKE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), please let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love, you can follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I also have tumblr, caelumblack.tumblr.com , you can follow my blog there, I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

The first week of University was going pretty well, naturally I arrived late for class, well, basically, every single time but I think most of my classmates were already getting used to it by day three so that was something. On Friday I started with the day with Creative Writing 101 and as usual, I was running late, when I made my way out of the subway station it was already nine a.m. which meant I would be at least ten minutes late to class if everything went smoothly and I didn’t have some sort of accident in which I would either be robbed or break my leg. Otherwise, I’d definitely make nine-ten a.m. 

When I knocked on the door of my classroom I had a strange, nervous sensation in my stomach, which was strange considering the fact that I’d been late to class more times in my life than I could count, still, as I opened the door, my insides twisted into knots, making me feel slightly nauseous. After stepping into the classroom I looked at my teacher first but when my eyes reached the person standing in front of the classroom my jaw dropped. Familiar brown hair, tan skin, dressed in black, a broody look on her flawless features. Lexa. Wait what? 

“Clarke” she said, her voice sounding as shocked as I felt. 

“Lexa”. 

The rest of the class remained quiet but I could feel their confused stares on me. I wasn’t sure what to do, what to say, how to react or act. Well this was weird, my roommate, who had seen me super naked, was now also my teacher? This situation could not get any worse. Except for the fact that she already hated me as a roommate and now she would also hate me as a student. 

I had to say something, break this extremely uncomfortable silence before it broke me, I already felt like turning around and running back to where I had come from, home, where I obviously wouldn’t be safe because eventually she’d show up there as well. Might as well make the best of it. 

“Sorry I’m late, I am sort of always late though so, I apologize in advance for all my late-coming in the future” I said. 

Lexa stared at me, hard, an unreadable expression on her face and said in that ageless voice of hers “take a seat”. 

And that is exactly what I did, I sat down in the back of the classroom, after which Lexa or Lexa Woods as had been written on the board, continued her introduction of Creative Writing 101. Apparently she was the TA of the class and our original teacher Mrs. Byrnes was on maternity leave for the next few months so Lexa had been asked to take over for the time being. While Lexa introduced the class and explained to us what we’d be doing for the next couple of weeks I found myself unable to look away from the front of the classroom. Lexa was a truly intriguing human being with her austere and somewhat cold expression, her voice deep and dark, the pace of her speech slow but alluring. 

As I sat there, my mind went back to the moment she’d jerked away the shower curtain, clearly remembering the way she had looked at me, her pupils had dilated, her breathing had become shallow and a little rugged, she’d been aroused by seeing me standing there and then, to top it all off, she’d captured her lower lip with her teeth. It had been the most attractive thing I had ever seen in my life and it had turned me on as well. I’d wanted to drag her into that shower with me, I’d wanted to bite that full lower lip with my teeth, I’d wanted to see her naked. It was strange because usually people didn’t really have that effect on me. Over the years I’d dated several people, mostly guys but the occasional girl here and there as well but they had never made me feel aroused just by looking at me while biting their lip. 

As I looked back to the front of the class I caught Lexa staring at me and when she saw me looking back she looked away quickly without faltering in her explanation of the next assignment. I listened closely, wanting to do well on my first creative writing assignment. We were to write about a moment during which we felt ashamed, it had to be 500 words long and we had to describe our emotions and the situation in detail. The assignment made me smirk a little, wondering whether she had thought of that assignment before or after our shower adventure. Probably before, she hadn’t known I was in her class until half an hour earlier. 

Lexa left us to our assignments and I got my MacBook from my bag and opened it, thinking about what to write, considering to write about our shower encounter. It was the first thing that came to mind when she explained the assignment, mostly because it was the most recent moment in which I had actually felt ashamed. Besides, I rarely felt ashamed, mostly because I had never really cared what people thought of me. Still though, if I wrote about this particular embarrassing moment and had to read it in front of the classroom, it might very well cause war between Lexa and I.

I made a decision and started typing.


	7. LEXA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), please let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love, you can follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I also have tumblr, caelumblack.tumblr.com , you can follow my blog there, I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

For a while I had been watching her work on her assignment, her facial expression relaxed as she typed away sentence after sentence. She truly was a sight for sore eyes and didn’t even seem to notice the admiring stares other students gave her regularly. I could understand their lustful glances but didn’t particularly like it, my body reacted in a weird way to seeing those stares, it was jealousy I knew, which was obviously ridiculous. There was exactly nothing to be jealous of, my behavior around Clarke had made sure of that, Octavia had even told me that Clarke was under the impression that I really disliked her. I didn’t really dislike her of course, I just couldn’t act normal when I was around her. My entire body just turned into a state of insaneness, everything started tingling and growing hot and my heart started racing and my hands got sweaty. It was ridiculous. 

Even when she sat in my classroom, not even looking at me, my body was out of control and I was constantly fighting to keep my facial expression blank. It was a battle though, emotion after emotion flashed through me and I found myself often gritting my teeth, as if I were in constant pain. No one seemed to notice though, everyone was furiously typing on their assignment. Forty-five minutes was all I had given them, to deliver the perfect piece. After that, we’d be reading some of the stories, there wasn’t enough time to go through all of them. Obviously there was only one story I was really interested in and that was Clarke’s. 

While normally I would walk around class, checking out what everyone was working on by having small conversations, this particular class I found time passing by so quickly that it was time to start reading our the written stories before I realized it. One of the students had to point it out to me, I’d been that lost in thought, and when she did I saw Clarke staring at me with amusement in her eyes and a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. 

“So, who wants to read their stories first”. 

Like I expected no one raised a hand, no one ever wanted to go first. I picked a random guy to start reading but barely listened to his story while he read it aloud. My thoughts were elsewhere, as were my eyes. Clarke was looking at the guy who was reading and while she did that, I took the time to stare at my roommate, she was beautiful as she sat there behind her des, her chin leaning on her fist. A small smile was tugging at her lips as she listened and she appeared to mutter something every now and then as the guy named Finn told his story. Like she was repeating his words softly so she could remember them better. 

After Finn was done with his story, I asked the rest of the class to take a couple of minutes to write down feedback for him and we discussed it in class before two others read their stories as well. There was more written feedback and more spoken feedback before I turned to Clarke and asked her to read her story aloud. Figuring her being the fourth person to read their story would not make it seem like there was something going on between the two of us. I watched a smirk appear on her face as she looked at me before turning more serious as she looked at her screen, cleared her throat and started reading. 

“Unpleasant surprises” she began and she took a moment to look at me daringly “my morning ritual was pretty much the same as it always was, despite me living in a new apartment with new roommates instead of living with my dad, despite everything suddenly being different after moving to New York only the weekend before. It was the first day of the semester and I was excited to start the day after a surprisingly good night sleep in my new bed, surrounded by familiar things still packed in boxes that stood seemingly everywhere in my room. I’d decided that taking time to get to know my roommates had priority over unpacking”. 

I listened to her story and felt my heartrate increase with each word, she wouldn’t have, no way right, she wouldn’t dare. 

“I had always had a tendency to be late so I had set my alarm extra early, giving me time to take a long shower, have an actual breakfast for a change and extra time to prepare for the day. When I got out of my room I found that one of my roommates had already left and the other was still asleep so instead of turning on some music like I normally would, I quietly made my way over to the bathroom and got into the shower. I had to figure out how it actually worked because it was different from the shower back home but I did and got to enjoy my first shower in my new apartment, it was nice, standing underneath that hot spray of water, it felt like everything that was my past was being washed away with each drop that landed on my skin. Showering in New York City was bliss. Until suddenly the shower curtain was ripped aside and I found someone I had never seen before in my life, standing in front of me”.

No she didn’t, she wouldn’t. No way that she was going to actually tell this story in class. 

“Since it was Monday, I had to wash my hair, which resulted into resembling something like a drowned rat, especially because I wasn’t wearing any make-up, so my shame came more from the fact that I looked horrible in front of this stranger. As my initial shock slowly subsided under the intent gaze the woman was giving me, I realized that the stranger wasn’t looking at me with surprise any longer upon finding someone she didn’t now standing in front of her. The expression on her face was closer to awe than to shock or horror or whatever you are supposed to feel when in a situation like this. Her eyes were near black, her mouth hung open the slightest bit in what appeared to be stunned appreciation as her eyes trailed up and down my body”. 

I sat stunned, even more so than when finding my new roommate standing naked in my shower at the start of the week. My cheeks were red, I could feel them burn. My hands were sweaty and my throat was dry, making it impossible to swallow or talk. I wanted to stop her, stop her from continuing this embarrassing story. No one paid attention to how I reacted though, they were all staring at Clarke and for that I was thankful. 

“For what appeared to be a full minute we just stared at each other and suddenly I no longer felt like I looked like a drowned rat. The way she took me in made my blood rush through my veins quicker than usual, it made my heart pound in my ears, it made me feel attractive, even in this odd situation. To my surprise the woman, who came across as very in control of herself, suddenly bit her lip and she didn’t even appear to realize it herself. In a moment of complete rebellion I decided to challenge her and stretched a little, tried to stand as alluring as one possibly could while naked in the shower and asked her whether she liked what she was seeing”.

I was positive I was having a heart-attack. She wasn’t going to reveal that it was me, was she? No, she wouldn’t dare to do that. No one would, I was her TA and if she did that, surely she knew she would be in trouble. I tried to give her warnings but she never met my eyes. 

“She snapped out of it and muttered something under her breath, realizing what she had just done and she spun around and practically ran out of the bathroom”.

She paused for a moment before continuing, this was it, if she mentioned it was me, I was going to kick her out of class and I would make sure that she got kicked out of school as well. 

“Apparently the woman was my new roommate who had just come home from a long summer of traveling but I only figured that out several hours later and in that initial moment, and especially after, it had done nothing to quell my embarrassment at standing there, completely naked and feeling very unattractive in front of the most stunning and enchanting woman I ever had the pleasure to meet”.


	8. CLARKE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy (or even hate), let me know by leaving a comment, if you like, enjoy or love my work, follow me on twitter @CaelumBlack for updates, quotes and info. I will be updating regularly with stories and prompts and everything I like.

It had been a mistake. A big, fat, stupid, ridiculous mistake and I never should have picked that moment for my most embarrassing story. I was walking outside and the sun was shining down brightly. Unlike any other time I had felt bad for doing something stupid, the sun didn’t make me feel better this time. I strolled through the park of which I didn’t know the name and found myself unable to shake the feeling of dread. She would kill me, whenever she was going to talk to me, she was definitely going to kill me. The way she had looked at me in class only an hour ago had nearly made me drop dead on the spot. At first her look had been unreadable, like she had cut off her emotions entirely and put on a mask of indifference. Then, I had seen her flushed cheeks, I had read the panic in her eyes and I felt horrible for even believing for a second that my story hadn’t affected her. I had been even more ashamed of myself upon seeing her horror at my story than I had been when she had seen me naked in the shower. After the initial shock of hearing the topic of my story though even her eyes grew cold and her cheek went back to its former color. The only thing that changed in her face was the way she clenched her jaw in obvious irritation. 

I would have to apologize to her when she got home later. With a deep sigh I sat down in the grass near the water and got my iPod out of my bag along with my sketch pad and pencils. For about an hour I sat in the grass, enjoying the feeling of the sun on my skin, warming me from the chill I’d been feeling ever since receiving Lexa’s cold stare and giving me a vitamin D boost at the same time that made me feel slightly better. Sketching made me feel a little better as well, even when I found myself sketching Lexa instead of the pond in front of me I was supposed to be sketching. 

Somewhere in the afternoon I went back to school for two my art classes and they passed by rather quickly despite the feeling of nervous anticipation that continued to torture me during the course of the day. After class I went straight home, hoping with one part of me that Lexa would be home so I could apologize to her but another part of me hoped that she had moved out somewhere during the hours I hadn’t been home, because it would mean I wouldn’t have to face her again after the shameful turn of events today. 

She’d asked the rest to write down feedback and had discussed it with the group just like she had done with the others who had read their stories before me but her face had remained stoic while she shared her opinion and let me be honest, if she spoke the truth, my story had been abhorrent. She had been harsh and I wanted to believe that she did that solely for the reason of my story’s content but I couldn’t believe that. She hadn’t liked the way I wrote, the way I built sentences, my choice of words. She had made my heart sink in my chest and I felt like disappearing through the floor beneath my chair. Suddenly I hadn’t felt very confident about my writing and it had resulted in me feeling depressed the rest of the class. 

Though I understood that the story itself was shameful to hear about for her, my last words had been more than complimentary and they had been meaningful, or they were supposed to be anyway. Either she hadn’t heard the words or she didn’t care because she hadn’t even reacted when I spoke them and believe me when I say I had been paying attention to whether she would but her face remained as detached as it had been before, the only emotion visible in her face the way she continued to clench her jaw. 

Darkness descended on the streets of New York while I found my way home, following the familiar paths I had taken several times over the summer, though back then it had been with either Octavia or Raven by my side. While I walked I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, I got it out and saw I had received several messages from both my roommates asking me to go out with them that evening. While I thought about that I let my phone slip back into my pocket and started a lively dialogue within my head about whether or not I should go. Sure, I was young and supposed to enjoy life to its fullest while studying in fucking New York City. On the other hand, I had homework and I wasn’t sure whether I’d rather spend the Friday evening working on my assignments or a weekend day where I could be out and about, exploring the city I was now living in. 

I hadn’t made a decision before I found myself walking into my apartment and found my roommates preparing dinner together, my third roommate was painfully absent once more. When I walked in they didn’t see me at first and I took that moment to appreciate my new friends, I gazed at them while they stirred in pots and pans while singing along with some song on the radio I had never heard in my life. It was one of the most extraordinary and normal things I had seen in a very long time. After my mother had left my father it had only been the two of us and though I knew he loved me dearly and I him, her leaving had had left a hole in our hearts that no one had been able to fill. Laughing had become a rare thing in the house, life with my dad had been comfortable and peaceful, there was no denying in that but something like this was something I hadn’t seen in the past decade and I was thankful to be shown this side of life once more. 

“Clarke, you’re back, oh my god, tell me you didn’t” Octavia called over the sound of the music.

“Tell you what” I asked as I shrugged off my jacket.

“You told the story in class, of Lex seeing you in the shower”.

I pulled a face and shrugged “I’m afraid I can’t deny it”. 

Both Raven and Octavia stared at me for a long moment before they both burst out into laughter, making me look at them in confusion, how in the world could they think it was funny. 

“Stop laughing, it was embarrassing”. 

Now that made them laugh even harder and their laughter rang louder than the music. It lasted for a good two minutes in which I sat down on one of the bar stools and scowled at my friends until only occasional fits of laughter escaped them. 

“So, tell us what happened” Raven said and she tried to keep a straight face as she spoke, the internal battle was clearly readable in her eyes. 

“We had to write about shameful moments and I thought I’d challenge her or something, I don’t know, get a reaction or something at least after a week of silence but my plan kind of backfired, you could have told me she has no sense of humor”.

Octavia frowned before a fit of giggles escaped her “you hadn’t noticed before today, your heart eyes are clearly obstructing you from seeing reality”. 

“My what”.

They both stared at me before glancing at each other and grinning once more.

“Your heart eyes, you get them every single time we say her name, Lexa, see, see Raven” Octavia said. 

Raven nodded earnestly “it’s getting ridiculous, especially because a certain roommate gets them too whenever we mention your name”.

I stared at my friends “you’re joking right, she hates me, now even more than before”.

“The line between love and hate is very thin my friend” Raven said, wiggling her eyebrows in clear amusement. 

“You guys are ridiculous”.

Octavia laughed “oh absolutely and you know what we’re personally going to make you the two of you hook up”.


End file.
